Milwood Neighborhood Assoc.

August of last year, Council approved a major initiative called Vertical Mixed Use, which allows for development similar to the style of the Triangle, the Domain, or the new second street development – retail and so forth on the base floor and the ability to allow for residential space above. More information on the program in general can be found here.

Neighborhoods have the ability to have input into the process, and although this primarily affects the Mesa Park association, we are also potentially impacted, primarily from plans at Duval and 183.

Speaking only for myself, I think VMU's are good ideas- it will probably reduce the number of car trips residents have to complete to live their normal lives, and the property potentially benefits others who don't live in the facility with some potentially useful retail instead of blocks of apartment buildings that don't benefit anyone but the apartment dwellers. But, of course, the devil is in the details.

There are two meetings of interest if you want to chime in on this process. First, Brewster McCracken is on a Roadshow to talk about this. He'll be swinging back this way on March 29 at 6:30 in the Northwest Recreation Center, at 2913 Northland Drive.

Second, there will be a final public meeting on VMU's on April 4th at 6:30 in the one Texas Center, Room 325 on 505 Barton Springs Road.

For anyone who didn't attend but was interested in the meeting, News 8 Austin was there and had a short clip of the meeting. They interviewed me because I was asking traffic questions in the meeting, although they said we were in the “Knollwood Neighborhood, so I'll give the reporter a call and see if they can at least change it on the website.

Link

Local Realtor Harvey Pikoff has generously sponsored two $350 dollar citizenship awards (good for graduates education expenses) in the Milwood area for 11 years running. The tradition continues this year. Applications are due by May 15th, with awards made at the July 4th Milwood Event. This is a neighborhood only available award, so tell your graduating seniors! Applications can be obtained by emailing Harvey at Hpikoff@aol.com.

City of Austin has reviewed the streets in our neighborhood and determined that a 25 mile speed limit should be in effect for several. Crews should be in the area installing the new 25 mph speed limit signs as soon as they can fit it into their schedule. The work will be done during the daytime only and will not impact traffic flow in the neighborhood. Information on which streets specifically will be affected has been requested.

Despite warnings of torrential rain, 40+ people came out to the General Milwood Meeting on the 24th. Many thanks to Molly Scarbrough, the city planner for the North Burnet Gateway Plan and Ben Bufkin from the Domain for giving updates and answering questions. They did an excellent job answering questions, and we should all appreciate and respect their passion for what they do.

The goal of the meeting was to start to raise awareness of neighbors about potential services, parks, and transit opportunities that may be coming, as well as increased density that these dissimilar but overlapping efforts will bring.

The material presented was a good overview of the two efforts. From the City we learned about proposed density zoning overlays, likely sites for commuter rail transit stations in the development area, and recommendations for some highway improvements providing some traffic relief at the 183/360 interchange, and the likely inclusion of bike connectivity through the zone. From the Domain we learned about density in the next phase, their emphasis on mixed use, and the likely inclusion of parks and connecting trails in future buildouts.

An equally important goal was to begin to help them understand the neighborhoods in the North Travis Triangle have concerns about the traffic impact on Duval that predate them – and the calls for more comprehensive traffic planning only get louder with the potential for a second downtown at the mouth of Duval.

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On May 3, 6:30 to 8:30 (who picks these times?), the MoPac 1 team will he conducting a “MoPac 1-to-ONEs” at the North Lamar Transit Center. These are informal, come-and-go gatherings where they have exhibits about the plans to do MoPac improvements. This project is generally commonly associated managed lanes and soundwalls affecting primarily central austin neighborhoods, but the project actually extends all the way to Parmer. Given the recurring concerns about if the north part of MoPac is equipped to deal with the density planned for North Burnet, it's a good chance to interact.

Our elementary school is in the heart of the neighborhood, within walking distance of many of our homes. A TEA “RECOGNIZED” School of Excellence, the school is commended in reading, math, writing and science. Here is some key information about the facility:

Phone: (512) 414-4484

Links:
School website
Map to the Facility